Breakthroughs: Does anybody have small successes/breakthroughs speaking Cymraeg they want to share?

Too far!
Sue

Proud of myself today for replying in Welsh to an English text (mostly for my benefit) from a Welsh speaker, asking me to do supply in school tomorrow! May not have been 100% accurate but she got my meaning, all staff very understanding off my efforts and very praiseworthy generally.

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Could still be a step forward, strangely, as it will encourage you to go for it next time you meet a Welsh speaker. Clouds and silver liningsā€¦

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Had first ever conversation (in welshglish!) with a welsh speaker today! Diolch yn fawr to @BronwenLewis for the generous gift of her time! :smile:

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Diolch! Yup, Bwtcamp is so good. Canā€™t recommend it enough.

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Hi Catrin. Thanks for the invite, unfortunately i live in Australia at the moment, but thinking of taking the leap back to Wales in September-ish. I will most likely be in Mynydd Cynffig again, so fingers crossed. Hope to see you in the future.

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Iā€™m currently on Level 2, week 19, and I had my first 5 minute conversation, all in Welsh, this afternoon :grin: I spoke to @nia (tutor) who was incredbly patient and kind. We had a proper, if very limited on my part!, conversation. I was very nervous but took the plunge. Iā€™m very glad that I did. :grinning:
Diolch yn fawr iawn Nia.

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Hi - Iā€™ve finished my song and released my album yesterday! Here is a link, so you can listen to it :slight_smile: https://hannerchant.bandcamp.com/ :blush:

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This is the exact song link! Lliwiau Enaid (Soul Colours) https://hannerchant.bandcamp.com/track/lliwiau-enaid-soul-colours

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I remember when you posted about the lyrics to Lliwiau Enaid on the forum beforeā€¦ it turned out so beautifully! Da iawn!

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Diolch yn fawr iawn! :pray:

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Lovely! And I see that you enjoy singing the song more in the Welsh version, so there will be no stopping you nowā€¦ I look forward to hearing your first all-Welsh CD!

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Well I have just returned from the awesome Part 10 and 3 days with the Bootcamp group. Yesterday I went with my non welsh speaking husband to buy a trailer in Corwen. Went into trailer shop and said we were looking for small trailers (in Welsh) lady obviously understood but replied in English. So that wasnā€™t very successful! However on the way home we needed to get some egg boxes so husband phoned (in Englis) an agricultural supplier in Bala. Yes, so we popped in and I said in welsh that my husband had just phoned for the boxes. Lovely chap replied in welsh . The boxes were used but clean, but when I asked how much he wanted he replied he said ā€˜dim byd - tiā€™n Cymro ā€˜ :grin::grin::grin: so happy Diolch o galon SSIW

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Just a wee one. But I started the course on Monday ā€“ so Iā€™ve only gotten through Challenge 2 so far. Though Welsh isnā€™t as common in the NorthEast, there are still folks here who use it when possible. One is our Costa Barista. He told us that if we ever started learning we could practice on him. So today I went to order my mocha (in English) but when I was finished I told him in Welsh that ā€œI needed to practice speaking in Welsh.ā€ He was impressed and agreed to let me and my hubby practice with each visit. (And we visit often!) :slight_smile: yeah!

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Thatā€™s got to be the sweetest phrase in the world! :grinning:

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There were lots of lovely moments last week in Caernarfon, of course, but I had a really nice language breakthrough in the queue for the toilets in Y Bachgen Du. A woman started explaining to me in English why one of the toilets was closed for cleaning. I replied in Welsh, and she didnā€™t say ā€˜oh, well done, how long have you been learning?ā€™ She just apologised. And switched to Welsh.

That sounds tiny, but it felt really important. (The explanation wasnā€™t any more pleasant in Welsh, though! :nauseated_face:)

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At which point you replied in Welsh, ā€œI really didnā€™t want to know thatā€¦ too much informationā€¦ā€ :laughing:

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A really small breakthrough for me and my girlfriend. We have started to learn Welsh together (I initially started in August but had to stop due to some life obstacles) and have completed the first two lessons of the 6 month course. Whilst practicing while walking through Cardiff we were testing each other and a lady that was in the street looked up and smiled as we were walking passed. It could easily be a friendly interaction which had nothing to do with the Welsh but I am going to take it as a little bit of motivation to keep going.

So not so much a breakthrough but a little extra motivation. My partner however had some quick breakthroughs as somebody that has never been taught or spoken Welsh as she is born and raised in England by picking up the pronunciation of ā€œllā€ and ā€œchā€ very quickly. Still struggles with the rolling r but sheā€™s doing very well :slight_smile:

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ā€˜ Da iawnā€™ā€”thatā€™s what he said when I managed to translate ā€˜ochr drawā€™ as our class continued its romp through the hilarious book ā€˜Bore daā€™ by Gwennan Evans. How did I know? Can you guess which SSiW lesson? In the context of the story, it refers to something ā€˜mysteriousā€™ from the ā€˜otherworldā€™ perhaps (youā€™ll have to read the story), not ā€˜the other side of the bridgeā€¦ or wallā€¦ or hotelā€™ so thereā€™s 3 clues for free.

How was it a breakthrough? I translated it spontaneously because I just ā€˜knew itā€™.

Oh, and while I am here preening, I did speak some Welsh to my very patient conversation partner in N. Wales yesterday, AND (sorry, but humility is not my strong suit), drum roll pleaseā€¦ ā€˜I CRACKED SLACKā€™ today (with a lot of advice from folk far and wide), so was able to briefly say ā€˜Hi and Byeā€™ on a Hangoutā€”just checking I could connect in.

Phew, after all that I now have to do another load of laundry and wash the floorā€¦ ā€˜thatā€™s life!ā€™

Hwyl,
Mari

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Today, I got a joke fast enough to spit my beer all over the pub table with laughing. :slight_smile:

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